Akiko Ryuunosuke
|Liath|Glas|Aurelia}} |Partner = Liath Vermilion |Status = Active |Relatives = *Akio Ryuunosuke (father, died when she was 9) *Aina Ryuunosuke (mother, died when she was 2) |Music Theme = The Final Song }} Akiko Ryuunosuke (Ah-kee-koh Ryoo-noh-skeh) is the leader of Team ALGA and a fourth year student at Shade Academy as of Volume 4. Her emblem, a five-petaled flower, and aura are both electric blue, and her weapon of choice is her High-Specific-Strength Tachi (HSST) named Mithril Convergence. She belongs to Emerald Rose. Appearance Akiko has a pale complexion and pitch-black eyes, the same color as her hair. On her arm, from the elbow down to the wrist, she also has glossy black scales and her left arm is a sleek black metal lined in silver with cuffs over her elbow and wrist. She can always been seen wearing a pale blue surgical mask. She dresses in a short, sleeveless, dark blue kimono lined in a light blue color, with a lavender obi tied around her waist to hold her sword and a faded blue hiyoku worn underneath it all. She also wears a dark blue cut-off sleeve on her right arm and has black calf-high boots lined with silver over faded blue stirrup-styled thigh high stockings with her emblem emblazoned in electric blue on the outer thigh. The bottom of her kimono and the top and opening of her sleeve are all lined in black faux fur, and the inside of her sleeve is also lined with the same fur. She also wears a dark purple cape thrown over her right shoulder with a silver clasp in the shape of her emblem. Personality Before her father's untimely death, Akiko was an outgoing and innocent child with an insatiable curiosity. She would constantly ask questions about everything she saw, no matter what it may be, although basically any answer would get her to move on to another question. She hated seeing other people cry or shout, so she would do her best to make others laugh or distract them from whatever was bothering them to begin with. After his death, though, she became much more closed off and abrasive, falling into a deep depression. It was difficult for her to feel any sort of attachment to other people and often found herself at a loss for words when confronted with someone who was in a bad mood. She rarely had any energy to get out of bed in the morning and spent most of her time reading alone or staring off into space. However, upon spending time with the Vermilion family, and later Aurelia, she opened up more and more, finding herself smiling more often or simply in a state of content. Of course, she will still fall into sour moods quite often, but her teammates are always able to pull her out of them with a few words. She has also slowly opened up more to strangers, able to hold simple conversations with other students or civilians with ease, although lengthy talks with people she's not familiar with make her very uncomfortable and slowly drain her patience and energy. During combat, she keeps talking to a minimum, only doing so as a way to relay her strategy. She keeps a completely blank face so as to not let her opponents read what she's thinking. She often engages in combat only when need be, trying to not initiate with an opponent when she knows that she has no need to. As such, she's not a very compulsive person, unless someone pokes at her pride, which can throw her into a blind silent rage, clouding her judgement. Abilities and Powers Akiko trained herself rigorously from a young age in order to become a Huntress. It was especially difficult for her due to her health problems and obvious lack of her left arm, so she poured every ounce of concentration and effort into her training, showing a strong will and determination from a young age. Once she entered combat school, she showed remarkable skill in combat with a sword, and so began training with one alongside her normal training. Through her years of combat school, she was also began developing her skills as a capable leader, being able to think of plans both before and during combat so as to gain a decisive victory. She also learned to adapt to different situations and figure out the most strategic way to victory. One very notable thing about Akiko is her incredible durability and stamina, able to take consecutive hits without letting it break her stride. She has also been able to win several battles by waiting out her opponent and make strategic attacks to whittle down her opponents resolve. Weapons Mithril Convergence is a High-Speific-Strength Tachi (HSST) that Akiko made during combat school. It's blade has a slight curvature and it has no scabbard, being worn edge-upward through Akiko's sash. This sword is entirely normal in appearance, although the blade is made of high-specific-strength steel, which is steel combined with nickel and aluminum to make it both lighter and stronger. She also has a black metallic arm attached to her torso via shoulder socket, which then connects to a pneumatics system in the bicep, which is what keeps her arm functioning. The forearm has four barrels filled with Fire and Wind Dust, which can be cycled through and shot through the hole in the center of the palm. The hand has sharp-clawed fingers for use in hand-to-hand combat and the rest of the arm is full of wires to connect all of the systems and nerves together. Her tactics usually involve her waiting out her opponent, striking at the most opportune moments and immediately backing off. She refrains from using her Dust in most battles, as she is able to win most with Sycamore alone, although she has used her Dust to create flamethrowers or release large gusts of air to push her opponent back. Semblance Tendrils is Akiko's Semblance, which allows her to create 'tendrils' from her Aura and use them to latch onto other people or objects. She mostly uses it as a way to propel herself or move one of her teammates out of danger. The tendrils can reach as far as she is able to see, although they do become thinner the further out they go. If she attaches three tendrils to grounded objects, she is able to lift herself into the air and 'float' there. However, this does take a good bit of concentration, so she is unable to make any large movements when up there, meaning it's best used as a way to get a better vantage point. She has an ethereal yellow-orange glow when her Semblance is in use. Weaknesses Akiko's main weakness is her pride, finding herself unable to back down from a fight if she is confronted alone, as her teammates would usually keep her from initiating combat. This has been used against her in multiple battles and has very nearly gotten her or her teammates killed because of it. History Before RWBY Akiko is the daughter of Akio and Aina Ryuunosuke, who raised her for a short while in an unnamed village on the western end of Sanus. When she was two years old, her mother went out on a hunt to help get food for the rest of the village, as her father had fallen ill from working the field through the rain. During the hunt, her mother was killed by a wandering group of Grimm, causing her father to fall into a deep depression and feel an immense amount of guilt. A few months later, the two of them were kicked out of the village as Akio had been unable to contribute to the survival of the village. This lead him to deciding to travel to Vacuo and live there. Because he was still in a deep depression, he decided to join a group of traveling merchants so it would be easier to raise Akiko. They traveled with the merchants until Akiko was almost five years old, upon which they came to a decently sized town with the famous Vermilion family, headed by the owner of a metalworks company. It was in this town that Akiko met Glas and Liath while the two of them were playing out of the manor grounds. The twins were both a year older than her, but they all three clicked very quickly. This directly caused Akio to meet Clancy and Fionn Vermilion, the former being the aforementioned own of a metalworks company. Thankfully for him and Akiko, the Vermilion's were very generous and offered to let them live in their manor until Akio recovered and was able to support himself and Akiko through his own merit. Akiko begged and begged for him to agree, so he did and bid the group of merchants farewell. For the next two years, Akio did his best to work up the money and energy to raise Akiko on his own, and Akiko spent her days happily playing with the twins. She and Liath were very close from the start, always getting into trouble and never sitting still for a single moment, while with Glas she found her love for reading and they spent most of their time learning as much as they could through their reading. Fionn treated her as if she were a second daughter, spoiling her rotten and Clancy occasionally took her and Akio on a tour to his company. Once Akiko was seven years old, Akio finally felt confident in himself and the wealth he had accumulated, so he decided to move on. He thanked the Vermilion family over and over again while they were leaving and Akiko bid her farewells, promising to write to them as much as she could. The two of them moved closer to Vacuo, taking up residence in another decently-sized town so Akio felt that Akiko could grow safe and still have the opportunity to explore the outside world. She spent another two years with her father, happily toiling away her time farming and hunting with them, sending the occasional letter to Liath and Glas when she was able to afford the stationary. She still missed them greatly, but found herself looking forward more to deciding what she would do with her time in the future. However, her hopes were crushed very soon afterwards during one of the hunts. Her father had decided to join her on this particular hunt and the two of them decided to break off from the main group to gather herbs and berries. It was then that a pair of wandering Grimm attacked them. Akiko has a very blurry memory of the events, but she very vividly remembers her father being torn apart in front of her before one of the Grimm swiped at her, mangling her left arm. It was shortly after that the rest of the group came to her rescue, but her father was already dead by then and she had lost her entire left arm. She lived in the house that her and Akio had lived in for the past two years during her recovery. The other villagers took care of her as best they could, although it was difficult due to her catching illnesses almost constantly due to the loss of her arm, which greatly decreased her overall health. She began wearing a surgical mask over her mouth and nose to try and keep from catching airborne illnesses. After spending a little over a year recovering from the loss of her arm and her father's death, she decides to take the rest of her father's money and go back to the Vermilion's. Over the course of a few weeks, Akiko went through many more hardships, being beaten on the road by muggers and having some of her belongings stolen or being taunted by passerby, mainly by racists for being born a faunus, birthing her hatred towards humans and towards herself, partly believing that she really was a monster, a common insult flung her way. By the time she reached the Vermilion manor once more, she had barely enough energy to drag her feet. Thankfully for her, Fionn was just arriving at the manor when she collapsed in front of the gate. Fionn took her into the manor and nursed her wounds while she slept for the next two days. Upon waking up, Akiko immediately asked for something eat, which Fionn took as 'make me a feast', so she did. The whole family ate a feast fit for a king, and upon finishing Akiko fell back asleep almost right away. For the next couple of weeks, she repeated this day in and day out, only occasionally responding to something someone said. It was after half a month that she finally woke up and actually began talking. She explained what happened to her for the two years that she was away and began opening back up the family following this. It was around this time that she also began training to strengthen her body and immune system, although that didn't work as well. She was joined by Liath and Glas during her training and she was enrolled into a combat school along with them as well. In combat school, she resolved to become a Huntress and destroy as many Grimm as she possibly could, deciding to dedicate the rest of her life to her goal. With the help of her teachers, she also forged her own sword, Mithril Convergence, and developed her own style of fighting. It was around here that she also found that she is quite the capable leader and began working to become something of a strategist as well. Upon graduating from combat school, the three of them took the break between graduation and initiation into Shade Academy to take a bit of a break in their training. It was around here that Clancy Vermilion presented Akiko with a new robotic left arm. He told her that she deserved it after all of her hard work and it greatly boosted her self-confidence and she used the rest of their break to get used to it. After break, when initiation started, the three of them were all thrown straight into the fray. Almost right away, Akiko and Liath ran into each other and partnered up, getting through initiation with ease, especially with the help of Glas and his partner, Aurelia. The four of them passed initiation and were placed on a team together, Team ALGA, with Akiko as the leader, surprising none of them. Throughout the following years, the four of them worked together as best they could. With Aurelia being the only human teammate, Akiko had a difficult time adjusting to her, although they eventually became very close. Akiko herself was a bright student and did her best to pass her classes and complete their missions as efficiently as possible. Volume 3 In their third year, they entered the Vytal Festival, as they had decided as a team to not enter in their first year as they all felt they were unprepared for it. As representatives of Shade Academy, they had to behave as well as they could, so Akiko felt it necessary to keep Liath from conversing with students from the other academies without another teammate with her. Of course, Liath opposed, but the other two agreed it would be best so they don't get into any trouble due to Liath's short temper. During the festival, Team ALGA won their rounds, with Akiko and Glas moving up first, then Akiko moving to the last round. However, Akiko was unable to fight in the last round, as the Grimm attack happened before she was able to. She directed her team to rescue anyone left behind and to kill as many Grimm as they could. They were able to herd a handful of people to safety and drove back some of the Grimm, but had to retreat due to the increasing strength and number of the Grimm. Afterwards, they took ships back to Shade Academy and continued their education. Volume 4 Half a year after the Fall of Beacon, Team ALGA is in its fourth year. They have been working tirelessly to further themselves as both people and Huntsman/Huntresses. Akiko in particular has gone above and beyond to do her best in her studies and has shown herself as an 'incredibly capable Huntress', as one of her teachers said. Despite what happened during the Vytal Festival, the four of them show no real concern for what might be happening up near that area, focusing more on their own careers. Relationships Akio Ryuunosuke Akiko was very close to her father. Because she was so young when her mother died, she has no memory of what he was like before then. Even so, after Aina's death, Akiko did her best to console her father throughout the years, staying close to his side as much as possible. While they were traveling with the merchants, she became close to some of them, but tried to always stay with Akio in his time of need. After coming to live with the Vermilion's they both brightened up a lot more, Akiko especially because her father began fighting his depression and working more. While living in the manor, they didn't grow much closer, due to him working more and her spending a lot of time with the twins. Most of their relationship grew once they moved closer to Vacuo. During that time, they spent a lot of time together hunting and tending to their field. It was also in this period that Akio told her about her mother. They relationship also lead him to trusting that Akiko could handle herself on a hunt, which indirectly caused his death. His death left a deep scar on Akiko, both physically and mentally, and she holds herself accountable for it even after all this time, believing she could had prevented his death in some way. Aina Ryuunosuke Aina died when Akiko was very young, meaning that she has no real memories of her mother at all. Her father told her a lot about her father when she was older, though, so she is able to appreciate who her mother was. Aina was barely in her twenties when her and Akio met, but Akio described her as 'an old soul' and 'was very wise' for her age. She wasn't very compulsive or wild, usually keeping Akio in check throughout their youth. Aina always had poor health, though, so she really couldn't afford to be energetic. This directly lead to complications during Akiko's birth, with Aina almost losing her life while in labor. Even so, she raised Akiko with kindness and did her best to secure Akiko's future in a safe environment. The only reason she went on a hunting trip was because Akio had worked himself too hard on the fields, working while it rained, and he was left ill. The hunting trip was the next day, so Aina decided to go in his stead. Unfortunately, this lead to her death at the claws of Grimm, leading to Akio's depression and the eventual departure from the village. Akiko, however, doesn't blame her mother for anything, instead only wishing she could have met her at least once. Clancy Vermilion Fionn Vermilion Glas Vermilion Liath Vermilion Aurelia Mazarine Patina Phlox Trivia *She was left-handed before losing her left arm, which meant she had to learn how to use her right arm while dealing with major depression, so now she's ambidextrous after having used her right arm for so long before getting her new arm. *Her favorite food is any confectionery, especially paired with white coffee, although it's difficult for her to find a place that makes that specific kind of coffee. *She always refers to strangers and acquaintances by their last name, either on its own or with an added prefix (Miss/Madam, Mister/Sir), but doesn't ask others to do the same for her. She refers to her friends by affectionate nicknames taken from their last names. *She made the decision to hide her scales with a sleeve due to previous events in her life, but doesn't hide her new arm under anything due to seeing it as something to show her determination to survive. *Her first design was very similar, although she had very high-heeled boots and a cape thrown over her left arm. She also didn't have a sleeve over her right arm, instead wearing a sort of armor plating. Her scales used to also be on her thighs and on her cheeks, although they were scrapped due to it being too much to look at. *Her professional huntress design is based very heavily off of Zero, the protagonist of the game Drakengard 3. The prosthetic left arm, cloak, and kimono-styled dress/shirt with the cut-off sleeve were all referenced for her design, although a great deal of changes were made to make her design more original. Her emblem is also a reference to the same character, although the color is different. **In that same vein, her overall color scheme is similar to Two, another character from the same game. This is because of two reason; it coincided with the element Akiko is associated with and because Two is one of the only characters in that game who doesn't deserve what she gets, so there's a bit of a soft spot there. CNR Explanation *Akiko is a combination of meanings: Aki can mean 'Clear, Crystal', 'Bright', or 'Autumn' ; Ko means 'Child' - Combined it means 'Autumn Child' *Ryuunosuke is a combination of meanings: Ryuu can mean 'Dragon' or 'Noble, Prosperous' ; No means a 'Possessive Marker' ; Suke means 'Forerunner, Herald' - Combined it means 'Dragon Herald' Category:Property of JokersWitch Category:Fan Made Character Category:Faunus Category:Female Category:Not for Roleplaying